Aiming to strengthen their position in the top two of the League One table, Peterborough United will travel to take on Lincoln City on Saturday.
The visitors have moved into the automatic promotion spots with three straight victories, while their hosts sit 12th in the midst of a dip in form.
Match preview
© Reuters
Lincoln City head into the weekend aiming to put an end to a dismal run of form, having quickly dropped to 12th spot in the League One table in the midst of a winless streak.
Michael Skubala took over as Imps manager in mid-November with the side sat on 23 points from their opening 16 games, but he has been unable to inspire a real improvement with his first 12 league games at the helm producing just 11 more points, despite overseeing 1-0 and 3-0 triumphs away at Leyton Orient and Cambridge United respectively in his first month.
Since that second victory in late November, Lincoln have failed to add another notch to their wins column in eight League One attempts, firstly playing out draws with Wigan Athletic and Reading, before suffering four straight defeats at the hands of Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, Northampton Town and Blackpool through the festive period and into the New Year.
The Imps then travelled to Wycombe Wanderers and after looking set to fall to a fifth straight loss, they were able to stop the run and snatch a point from a 1-1 draw, thanks to Ethan Erhahon's injury-time leveller, before taking another creditable point on Saturday as they hosted promotion-chasing Derby County and played out a goalless stalemate.
Having at least put an end to their losing run with a slight uptick in recent weeks, Skubala's side will now be desperate to bounce back to winning ways to maintain their top-half place, but they face another difficult test at the weekend.
© Reuters
Indeed, Peterborough United arrive at Sincil Bank in search of a fourth straight win in England's second tier in their bid to win automatic promotion this term after falling short in the playoff semi-finals last time around.
Darren Ferguson's men have staked a strong claim thus far, amassing 55 points from their opening 27 matches and putting themselves second, having managed 16 victories alongside just four defeats while netting a league-high tally of 54 goals.
The most recent of those four losses came in early November away at Wigan Athletic, and the Posh have certainly hit their stride since, picking up eight victories and three draws to move into pole position in the top-two fight.
After having their momentum halted slightly at the end of December in back-to-back stalemates with Reading and Barnsley, the Cambridgeshire outfit have quickly rediscovered their best form in the New Year, putting consecutive victories on the board away at Derby County and Charlton Athletic before most recently hosting Shrewsbury Town at the weekend and coming from 1-0 down to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Joel Randall and Josh Grant.
Now certainly boasting one of the division's finest runs of form, Peterborough find themselves second with just a one-point gap up to leaders Portsmouth with a game in hand, but with Bolton Wanderers and Derby both in hot pursuit of the top two, they will know they cannot afford to let up and will bid to make it four straight wins and 12 league games unbeaten on Saturday, on the back of a 2-1 EFL Trophy triumph over Crawley Town on Tuesday.
Team News
© Reuters
With a clean bill of health, Michael Skubala may opt to deploy an unchanged Lincoln City starting XI from their draw with Derby County last time out, although Paudie O'Connor will hope to come back into the defence on his return from a suspension.
In a 4-4-2 shape, the manager may instead stick with the centre-back pairing of Adam Jackson and Alex Mitchell after the clean sheet at the weekend, while Ethan Erhahon is a mainstay in the engine room and should again be joined by Teddy Bishop.
Ethan Hamilton and Reeco Hackett-Fairchild should keep their places on the flanks, while the line will again be led by Joe Taylor, who will go in search of a first goal for the club having joined on loan from Luton Town after netting 12 League Two goals in a spell with Colchester United in the first half of the season.
After making rotations for the midweek EFL Trophy tie against Crawley Town, Peterborough United should revert to the same starting XI from their triumph over Shrewsbury Town last weekend, with key winger Kwame Poku set to remain sidelined by injury alongside goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic.
In the absence of the latter, recent arrival Jed Steer will continue between the sticks, while Ronnie Edwards will return alongside Josh Knight in the middle of the defence and Hector Kyprianou will rejoin Archie Collins in the engine room in their 4-2-3-1 setup.
Elsewhere, in Poku's place, David Ajiboye will again join Joel Randall and top scorer Ephron Mason-Clark in a supporting trio behind lone striker Ricky-Jade Jones, who has notched up seven goals and five assists across all competitions so far this term.
Lincoln City possible starting lineup:
Jensen; Sorensen, Mitchell, Jackson, Roughan; Hamilton, Erhahon, Bishop, Hackett-Fairchild; Taylor, Draper
Peterborough United possible starting lineup:
Steer; Katongo, Knight, Edwards, Burrows; Kyprianou, Collins; Ajiboye, Randall, Mason-Clark; Jones
We say: Lincoln City 0-2 Peterborough United
Despite their growing winless run, Lincoln City do head into the weekend on the back of a pair of more pleasing results and will aim to clip the wings of a dangerous Peterborough side as they did to Derby last time out.
We see the visitors being too strong however, even without Poku, and back them to take all three points back to Cambridgeshire in their promotion bid.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
